Leading Brexiteer invested £70,000 in firm advising clients to buy gold to avoid impact of a no-deal Brexit

Reuters

Steve Baker MP

• Chief Brexiteer Steve Baker has shares worth £70,000 in a company that encourages people to invest in gold to avoid the financial hit of a no-deal Brexit.
• The former Brexit minister is set to make the case for a no-deal Brexit in the coming weeks.
• However, he has also promoted and invested in Glint Pay Ltd, which tells potential customers to "buy, save & spend physical gold" to insure against the negative impact of a hard Brexit.
• Posts on Glint Pay's website cite uncertainty over Brexit as a reason for the fall of the pound as well as warnings that a no-deal Brexit will be particularly damaging to the UK economy.
• The company warns that Brexit could hit pension funds and advises customers to buy gold as "insurance" against the UK leaving without a deal.

LONDON - A leading pro-Leave Conservative MP and former Brexit minister has promoted and invested £70,000 in a financial services company that encourages the public to buy gold in order to avoid the negative impact of a no-deal Brexit.

Steve Baker, who belongs to the Jacob Rees Mogg-led European Research Group of pro-Brexit Conservatives, is reportedly working on an "alternative" to May's Chequers plan, which will outline the "advantages" of leaving the EU without a deal.

However, Baker, who resigned earlier this year as a Brexit minister, is also a shareholder in the company Glint Pay Ltd, which has encouraged people to "buy, save & spend physical gold," as"financial insurance" against the potential economic impact of a hard Brexit.

Baker attended Glint Pay's launch earlier this year - two days after quitting DExEU in protest against Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan - and has repeatedly endorsed the company on his public Twitter account. He has shares in the company worth £70,000, according to an entry in his register of interests disclosed on June 22, 2017.

The London-based company, promoted by Baker, encourages potential customers to invest in gold in order to insure against the growing likelihood of a no-deal Brexit, which it suggests could cause the pound to crash and economic growth to slow.

Twitter/@SteveBakerHW

The company also cites warnings that a no-deal Brexit, which is currently being pushed by leading Brexiteers, will hurt the economy, individual pension funds and "be damaging for all parties, particularly the UK that could see see growth shrink by up 8%."

On Wednesday, the pound fell for an 11th consecutive day against the dollar, its worst losing streak since the financial crisis. It traded at $1.27, it's lowest level in over a year.

Baker is yet to respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Twitter/@SteveBakerHW

Barney Scholes, a spokesman for the People's Vote campaign, said it was "simply disgraceful for a former Brexit Minister to privately invest in a company taking advantage of the market turmoil created by Brexit, while at the same time advocating a disastrous 'no deal' approach."

He added: "Steve Baker seems to treat Brexit as a game to line his own pockets, whilst leaving millions of people across the country to pick up the bill. As more and more Brexit promises are broken, calls for a People's Vote on the final deal with the EU are getting louder every day."

Glint Pay Ltd has not responded to BI's request for comment.

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